K. N. Panikkar

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Dr. K.N. Panikkar (b. 1936), is an Indian historian who is former Vice Chancellor, Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University, Kalady, Kerala, India.

Dr. Panikkar is one of the foremost historians of the country. Influenced by Marxism, his methods and his expressed positions in public life have evoked harsh criticism from right-wing intelligentia and political parties. Panikkar has been active in criticising the rise of communalist history in India. His books include 'Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant Uprisings in Malabar'; 'Culture and Consciousness in Modern India'; 'Culture, Ideology and Hegemony – Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India' and 'Before the Night Falls'. He has also edited a number of books including 'A Concerned Indian’s Guide to Communalism' and the ICHR volume on 'Towards Freedom, 1940, A Documentary History of the Freedom Struggle' (suppressed and withdrawn from press by the former BJP-led regime, now forthcoming). He is currently engaged in preparing a monograph on the intellectual history of colonial India for which he has been awarded Homi Bhabha Senior Fellowship. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2007.